Charlton Athletic F.C.
| ground = The Valley, Charlton, London, England | capacity = 27,111 | chairman = Michael Slater | manager = Chris Powell | captain = Johnnie Jackson | league = The Championship | season = 2011–12 | position = League One, 1st (promoted) | | topscorer= | website = http://www.cafc.co.uk | pattern_la1 = | pattern_b1 = _dijon1112h | pattern_ra1 = | leftarm1 = FF0000 | body1 = FF0000 | rightarm1 = FF0000 | shorts1 = FFFFFF | socks1 = FF0000 | pattern_la2 = | pattern_b2 =_bradford1112t | pattern_ra2 = | leftarm2 = 000000 | body2 = 000000 | rightarm2 = 000000 | shorts2 = 000000 | socks2 = 000000 }} Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English football club based in Charlton, London. They currently play in the Football League Championship in the 2012–13 season after becoming champions of League One 2011/2012. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area, including East Street Mission and Blundell Mission, combined to form Charlton Athletic. The club play at The Valley in Charlton, where they have played since 1919, apart from one year in Catford, during 1923–24, and seven years at Crystal Palace and West Ham United between 1985–1992. Charlton share local London derbies with Millwall, Crystal Palace; and with east London club West Ham United. The club's traditional kit consists of red shirts, white shorts and red socks and their most commonly used nickname is The Addicks. Charlton turned professional in 1920 and first entered the Football League in 1921. Since then they have had four separate periods in the top flight of English football: between 1936–1957, 1986–1990, 1998–1999 and 2000–2007. Historically, Charlton's most successful period was the 1930s, when the club's highest league finishes were recorded, including runners-up of the First Division in 1937. After World War II, the club reached the FA Cup Final twice, losing in 1946 and winning in 1947. History Early history Charlton Athletic were formed on 9 June 1905 by a group of 15- to 17-year-old boys in an area of Charlton which is no longer residential, near to the present-day site of the Thames Barrier. In the club's early years its progress was hampered by the nearby presence of Woolwich Arsenal F.C. (now Arsenal), which was one of the largest clubs in the country, and Charlton spent the years before the First World War playing in local leagues. Woolwich Arsenal's move to North London in 1913 gave Charlton an opportunity to develop, and they became a senior side by joining the Lewisham League. After the war, they joined the Kent League for one season (1919–20) before becoming professional, appointing Walter Rayner as the first full-time manager. They were accepted by the Southern League and played just a single season (1920–21) before being voted into the Football League. Charlton's first Football League match was against Exeter City in August 1921, which they won 1–0. In 1923 it was proposed that Charlton merged with Catford Southend to create a larger team with bigger support.Clayton 2001, p.30 In the 1923–24 season Charlton played in Catford at The Mount stadium and wore the colours of "The Enders", light and dark blue vertical stripes. However, the move fell through and the Addicks returned to the Charlton area in 1924, returning to the traditional red and white colours in the process.Clayton 2001, p.33 Charlton finished second bottom in the Football League in 1926 and were forced to apply for re-election which was successful. Three years later the Addicks won the Division Three championship in 1929 and they remained at the Division Two level for four years. After relegation into the Third Division south at the end of the 1932/33 season the club appointed Jimmy Seed as manager and he oversaw the most successful period in Charlton's history either side of the Second World War. Seed, an ex-miner who had made a career as a footballer despite suffering the effects of poison-gas in the first war, remains the most successful manager in Charlton's history and he is commemorated in the name of a stand at the Valley.Jimmy Seed, Soccer From the Inside (Thorsons Publishers, 1947), p.19. Seed was an innovative thinker about the game at a time when tactical formations were still relatively unsophisticated. He later recalled "a simple scheme that enabled us to pull several matches out of the fire" during the 1934–35 season: when the team was in trouble "the centre-half was to forsake his defensive role and go up into the attack to add weight to the five forwards."Seed, Soccer From the Inside, p.66. The organisation Seed brought to the team proved effective and the Addicks gained successive promotions from the Third Division to the First Division between 1934 and 1936. Charlton finally secured promotion to the First Division by beating local rivals West Ham in front of 41,254 fans at the Valley, with their valiant centre-half John Oakes playing on despite concussion and a broken nose.Colin Cameron, Home and Away with Chalton Athletic 1920–2004 (2004), p.69. In 1937, Charlton finished runners up in the First Division, in 1938 finished fourth and 1939 finished third. They were the most consistent team in the top flight of English football over the three seasons immediately before the Second World War. This continued during the war years and they won the "war" cup and appeared in finals. Post-war history Charlton were finalists in the 1946 FA Cup, but lost 4–1 to Derby County. Charlton's Bert Turner scored an own goal in the eightieth minute before equalising for the Addicks a minute later to take them into extra time, but they conceded three further goals in the extra period.Cameron, Home and Away with Charlton Athletic 1910–2004, p.112. When the full league programme resumed in 1946–47 Charlton could finish only 19th in the First Division, just above the relegation spots. But they made amends with their performance in the FA Cup, reaching the final once again. This time they were successful, beating Burnley 1–0, Chris Duffy scoring the only goal of the day. In this period of renewed football attendances, Charlton became one of only eleven English football teams to average over 40,000 as their attendance during a full season. The Valley was the largest football ground in the League, drawing crowds in excess of 70,000. However, in the 1950s little investment was made either for players or to The Valley, hampering the club's growth. In 1956, the then board undermined Jimmy Seed and then sacked, and Charlton were relegated the following year. From the late 1950s until the early 1970s, Charlton remained a mainstay of the Second Division before relegation to the Third Division in 1972 caused the team's support to drop, and even a promotion in 1975 back to the second division did little to re-invigorate the team's support and finances. In 1979–80 Charlton were relegated again to the Third Division, but won immediate promotion back to the Second Division in 1980–81. Even though it did not feel like it, this was a turning point in the club's history leading to a period of turbulence and change including further promotion and exile. A change in management and shortly after a change in club ownershipClayton 2001, p.141 led to severe problems, such as the reckless signing of former European Footballer of the Year Allan Simonsen, and the club looked like it would go out of business.Clayton 2001, pp.142–150 The "wilderness" years In 1984 financial matters came to a head and the club went into administration, to be reformed as Charlton Athletic (1984) Ltd. But the club's finances were still far from secure, and they were forced to leave the Valley just after the start of the 1985–86 season, in the wake of the Bradford City stadium fire after its safety was criticised by Football League officials. The club began to groundshare with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and this arrangement looked to be for the long-term, as Charlton did not have enough funds to revamp the Valley to meet safety requirements. Despite the move away from the Valley, Charlton were promoted to the First Division as Second Division runners-up at the end of 1985–86, and remained at this level for four years (achieving a highest league finish of 14th) often with late escapes, most notably against Leeds in 1987, where the Addicks triumphed in extra-time of the play-off final replay to secure their top flight place. In 1987 Charlton also returned to Wembley for the first time since the 1947 FA Cup final for the Full Members Cup final against Blackburn.Clayton 2001, p.156 Eventually, however, the Addicks fell to relegation in 1990 after a dismal season. Manager Lennie Lawrence remained in charge for one more season before he accepted an offer to take charge of Middlesbrough. He was replaced by joint player-managers Alan Curbishley and Steve Gritt. The pair had unexpected success in their first season finishing just outside the play-offs, and 1992–93 began promisingly and Charlton looked good bets for promotion in the new Division One (the new name of the old Second Division following the formation of the Premier League). However, the club was forced to sell players such as Rob Lee to help pay for a return to The Valley, which eventually happened in December 1992. There was a tragedy at the club late in the 1992–93 season. Defender Tommy Caton, who had been out of action due to injury since January 1991, announced his retirement from playing on medical advice in March 1993, having failed to recover full fitness, and he died suddenly at the end of the following month, aged just 30 years. An insight into life at the football club in this period is provided by Left Foot Forward: A Year in the Life of a Journeyman Footballer, a highly-praised account of the 1994–95 season written in diary form by Charlton forward Garry Nelson.Garry Nelson, Left Foot Forward (Headline, 1995) The book was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award.Nelson plays by the book The Independent, 19 November 1995 Back to The Valley In 1995, new chairman Richard Murray appointed Alan Curbishley as sole manager of Charlton. Under his sole leadership Charlton made an appearance in the playoffs in 1996 but were eliminated by Crystal Palace in the semi-finals and the following season brought a disappointing 15th place finish. 1997–98 was Charlton's best season for years. They reached the Division One playoff final and battled against Sunderland in a thrilling game which ended with a 4–4 draw after extra time. Charlton won 7–6 on penalties, with the match described as "arguably the most dramatic game of football in Wembley’s history",Wembley's Greatest Events (1923–2010) Wembley Stadium and were promoted to the Premier League. Charlton's first Premier League campaign began promisingly (they went top after two games) but they were unable to keep up their good form and were soon battling relegation. The battle was lost on the final day of the season but the club's board kept faith in Curbishley, confident that they could bounce back. And Curbishley rewarded the chairman's loyalty with the Division One title in 2000 which signalled a return to the Premier League. After the club's return, Curbishley proved an astute spender and by 2003 he had succeeded in establishing Charlton in the top flight. In the 2003–04 season, Charlton spent much of the campaign challenging for a Champions League place, but a late-season slump in form, combined with the sale of star player Scott Parker to Chelsea, left Charlton in 7th place, which was still the club's highest finish since the 1950s. However, Charlton failed to build on this achievement and Curbishley left two years afterwards in 2006, after 15 years as manager, with the club still established as a solid mid table side. In May 2006, Iain Dowie was named as Curbishley's successor, but was sacked after twelve league matches in November 2006, with only two wins. Les Reed replaced Dowie as manager, however he too failed to improve Charlton's position in the league table and on Christmas Eve 2006, Reed was replaced by former player Alan Pardew. Although results did improve, Pardew was unable to keep Charlton up and relegation was confirmed in the penultimate match of the season. Charlton's return to the second tier of English football was a disappointment, with their promotion campaign tailing off to an 11th place finish. Early in the following season the Addicks were linked with a foreign takeover, but this was swiftly denied by the club. More recently, on 10 October 2008 Charlton received an indicative offer for the club from a Dubai-based diversified investment company. However, the deal later fell through. The full significance of this soon became apparent as the club recorded net losses of over £13 million in the past financial year. On 22 November 2008 Charlton suffered a 2–5 loss to Sheffield United at home, which meant that the club had gone eight successive games without a win and had slipped into the relegation zone—particularly disastrous considering they were among the pre-season favourites for promotion. Hours after the game, Alan Pardew left Charlton by mutual consent. Matters did not improve under caretaker manager Phil Parkinson, and a 3–1 defeat at Sheffield United saw the Addicks four points adrift at the bottom of the Championship as 2009 dawned, under threat of their first relegation to English football's third tier for 29 years. Charlton continued their poor run of form to go 18 games without a win, a new club record, before finally achieving a 1–0 away victory over Norwich City in an FA Cup Third Round replay. They then went on to beat Crystal Palace 1–0 at the Valley on 27 January to achieve their first league win under Phil Parkinson, whose contract was made permanent despite the lack of progress in the league. Charlton's relegation from the Championship was all but confirmed on Easter Monday (13 April) when, despite picking up a point in a 0–0 draw at Coventry, they found themselves 12 points from safety with four games remaining. With a vastly inferior goal difference and with the two teams directly above them (Southampton and Nottingham Forest) still having to play each other, it was effectively an impossible task for Charlton to avoid relegation. The following game saw Charlton's relegation to League One become a reality after a 2–2 draw against Blackpool. After spending almost the entire 2009/2010 season in the top six of League One, Charlton were defeated in the Football League One play-offs semi-final second leg on penalties to Swindon Town, condemning Charlton to another season in the third tier of English Football. Parkinson had spent less than any other manager on purchasing players since Lennie Lawrence in the 1980s and was able to maintain a top six status despite only having the opportunity to bring in lower level players on loan. At that time, Charlton went through a change in ownership. The new owners decided to remove both Parkinson and Charlton legend Mark Kinsella after a poor run of results, intending to replace them with an as yet unknown team. Another Charlton legend, Chris Powell was appointed manager of the club in January, winning his first game in charge 2–0 over Plymouth at the Valley, Charlton's first win since November. Powell's bright start continued with a further three victories, before running into a dreadful downturn which saw the club go 11 games in succession without a win. Yet the fans' respect for Powell saw him come under remarkable little criticism. The club's fortunes picked up towards the end of the season, but leaving them far short of the playoffs. In a busy summer, Powell brought in 19 new players and after a successful season, on 14 April 2012, Charlton Athletic won promotion back to the Championship with a 1–0 away win at Carlisle United. A week later, on 21 April 2012, they were confirmed as Champions after a 2–1 home win over Wycombe Wanderers. Charlton then lifted the League One trophy on 5 May 2012, having been in the top position since 15 September 2011, and after recording a 3–2 victory over Hartlepool United, recorded their highest ever league points score of 101, the highest in any professional European league that year. Stadium The club's first ground was Siemens Meadow (1905–1907), a patch of rough ground by the River Thames. This was over-shadowed by the now demolished Siemens Telegraph Works. Then followed Woolwich Common (1907–1908), Pound Park (1908–1913), and Angerstein Lane (1913–1915). After the end of the First World War, a chalk quarry known as the Swamps was identified as Charlton's new ground, and in the summer of 1919 work began to create the level playing area and remove debris from the site. The first match at this site, now known as the club's current ground The Valley, was in September 1919. Charlton stayed at The Valley until 1923, when the club moved to The Mount stadium in Catford as part of a proposed merger with Catford Southend Football Club. However, after this move collapsed in 1924 Charlton returned to The Valley. During the 1930s and 40s, significant improvements were made to the ground, making it one of the largest in the country at that time. In 1938 the highest attendance to date at the ground was recorded at over 75,000 for a FA Cup match against Aston Villa. During the 1940s and 50s the attendance was often above 40,000, and Charlton had one of the largest support bases in the country. However, after the club's relegation little investment was made in The Valley as it fell into decline. In the 1980s matters came to a head as the ownership of the club and The Valley was divided. The large East Terrace had been closed down by the authorities after the Bradford City stadium fire and the ground's owner wanted to use part of the site for housing. In September 1985, Charlton made the controversial move to ground-share with South London neighbours Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park. This move was unpopular with supporters and in the late 1980s significant steps were taken to bring about the club's return to The Valley. A single issue political party, the Valley Party, contested the 1990 local Greenwich Borough Council elections on a ticket of reopening the stadium, capturing 11% of the vote, aiding the club's return. The Valley Gold investment scheme was created to help supporters fund the return to The Valley, and several players were also sold to raise funds. For the 1991–92 season and part of the 1992–93 season, the Addicks played at West Ham's Upton Park as Wimbledon had moved into Selhurst Park alongside Crystal Palace. Charlton finally returned to The Valley in December 1992, celebrating with a 1–0 victory against Portsmouth. Since the return to The Valley, three sides of the ground have been completely redeveloped turning The Valley into a modern, all-seater stadium with a 27,111 capacity. There are plans in place to increase the ground's capacity to approximately 31,000 and even around 40,000 in the future. The Covered End The Valley's North Stand which is known by locals as "The Covered End" to this day and is where the more vocal fans gather. The Covered end title is quite self-explanatory. It comes from the original design of the north stand before it was redeveloped. The Valley Club (CAFC Supporters Club) was situated in Harvey Gardens behind the North Stand, and was managed by licensee Ray Donn from 1970–1984 the club had a full club licence supplying food and drink to its members and guests during match days and live entertainment, with cabaret and dancing every night of the week. The Valley Club was one of the most popular club venues in South London at this time, featuring named entertainers popular today. Supporters The bulk of the club's support base comes from the London Boroughs of Lewisham, Greenwich, Bexley and Bromley and also north-west Kent. Charlton were rare among football clubs, in that they reserved a seat on their directors' board for a supporter. Any season ticket holder could put themselves forward for election, with a certain number of nominations, and votes were cast by all season ticket holders over the age of 18. The last such director, Ben Hayes, was elected in 2006 to serve until 2008, when the role was discontinued as a result of legal issues. Its functions were replaced by a fans forum which met for the first time in December 2008. Nicknames Charlton's most common nickname is The Addicks. Among the theories on the origin of the Addicks name are that it was the south-east London pronunciation of either "addict" or "athletic". However, the most likely origin of name is from a local fishmonger, Arthur "Ikey" Bryan, who rewarded the team with meals of haddock and chips.Clayton 2001, p.10 The progression of the nickname can be seen in the book The Addicks Cartoons: An Affectionate Look into the Early History of Charlton Athletic, which covers the pre-First World War history of Charlton through a narrative based on 56 cartoons which appeared in the now defunct Kentish Independent. The very first cartoon, from 31 October 1908, calls the team the Haddocks. By 1910, the name had changed to Addicks although it also appeared as Haddick. The club has had two other nicknames, The Robins, adopted in 1931, and The Valiants, chosen in a fan competition in the 1960s which also led to the adoption of the sword badge which is still in use. The Addicks nickname never went away and was revived by fans after the club lost its Valley home in 1985 and went into exile at Crystal Palace. It is now once again the official nickname of the club. Charlton fans' chants have included "Valley, Floyd Road", a song noting the stadium's address to the tune of "Mull of Kintyre", and "The Red, Red Robin".Charlton Athletic In popular culture Charlton Athletic featured in the ITV one-off drama, Albert's Memorial, shown on 12 September 2010, and starring David Jason and David Warner. Jason's character, Harry, is revealed to be a Charlton Athletic fan. Harry later buries his friend, Albert, played by Michael Jayston, draped in a Charlton Athletic flag, to which Frank says, "hear that?". Harry replies,"no...what?" Frank says, "that's the sound of Albert turning in his grave. He hated Charlton Athletic", so Harry replies, "well, nobody's perfect."Albert's Memorial ITV.com In Only Fools and Horses Rodney Charlton Trotter is named after the club. Colours and crest Council, used by Charlton briefly in late 1940s and early 50s]]Charlton have used a number of crests and badges during their history, although the current design has not been changed since 1968. The first known badge, from the 1930s, consisted of the letters CAF in the shape of a club from a pack of cards. In the 1940s, Charlton used a design featuring a robin sitting in a football within a shield, sometimes with the letters CAFC in the four quarters of the shield, which was worn for the 1946 FA Cup Final. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the crest of the former metropolitan borough of Greenwich was used as a symbol for the club but this was not used on the team's shirts. In 1963, a competition was held to find a new badge for the club, and the winning entry was a hand holding a sword, which complied with Charlton's nickname of the time, the Valiants. Over the next five years modifications were made to this design, such as the addition of a circle surrounding the hand and sword and including the club's name in the badge. By 1968, the design had reached the one known today, and has been used continuously from this year, apart from a period in the 1970s when the just the letters CAFC appeared on the team's shirts. With the exception of one season, Charlton have always played in red and white. The colours had been chosen by the group of boys who had founded Charlton Athletic in 1905 after having to play their first matches in the borrowed kits of their local rivals Woolwich Arsenal, who also played in red and white.Clayton 2001, p.8 The exception came during the 1923–24 season when Charlton wore the colours of Catford Southend as part of the proposed move to Catford, which were light and dark blue stripes.Clayton 2001, p.32 However, after the move fell through, Charlton returned to wearing red and white as their home colours. Kit sponsors and manufacturers Rivalries Charlton's main rivals are Millwall and Crystal Palace. Millwall According to the 2003 Football Fan Census, Millwall are considered to be Charlton's main rivals. The rivalry began when Millwall moved south of the river in 1910 to The Den in New Cross, South East London situated less than 4 miles from The Valley, the two clubs met frequently in the league up until the mid-1990s, however the sides didn't play each other in a competitive match between 1996 and 2009 because Charlton were in the Premier League. the first meeting in 13 years in December 2009 ended as a 4–4 draw.Charlton 4–4 Millwall News Shopper, 19 December 2009 Crystal Palace In the 1980s when the Addicks ground shared with Crystal Palace, the exiled Charlton fans did not like the trek to Selhurst Park and felt the club weren't treated well during their time there. The two clubs met numerous times during this period and the Palace fans were particularly boastful about Charlton's homelessness, as well as rising rent costs. In 2005, Crystal Palace were relegated at The Valley after a 2–2 draw, who revelled in Palace's misfortune, after the match there was also an altercation between the two chairmen Richard Murray and Simon Jordan, Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan later described Charlton fans as Moronic Imbeciles. In 2006 manager Iain Dowie left Crystal Palace by mutual consent. A few weeks later he was appointed as Charlton manager, and a writ was served on behalf of Palace chairman Simon Jordan during a press conference live on Sky Sports News claiming Dowie had breached their agreement and that Dowie promised Jordan that he would move to a club in Northern England. Players First-team squad Out on loan Development squad Out On Loan Academy squad Notable Former Players Player Of The Year |width="50"| |valign="top"| |width="50"| |valign="top"| |width="50"| |valign="top"| |width="50"| |valign="top"| |} Club Officials Club officials as of 13 January 2011 Boardroom Coaching Staff Managerial History managed Charlton between 1991 and 2006]] Honours *Football League First Division (1st Tier) **Runners-up – 1937 *Football League Second Division / Football League First Division (2nd Tier) **Champions – 2000 **Runners-up – 1936, 1986 **Play-off winners – 1987, 1998 *Football League Third Division / Football League One (3rd Tier) **Champions—2012 **Promoted (old Division 3) – 1975, 1981 *Football League Third Division South **Champions – 1929, 1935 *FA Cup **Winners – 1947 **Runners-up – 1946 *Full Members Cup **Runners-up – 1987 *Football League War Cup **Joint Winners – 1944 Records ]] *Goalkeeper Sam Bartram is Charlton's record appearance maker, having played a total of 623 times between 1934 and 1956. But for six years lost to the Second World War, when no league football was played, this tally would be far higherClayton 2001, p.104 *Keith Peacock is the club's second highest appearance maker with 591 games between 1961 and 1979Clayton 2001, p.320 *Charlton's record goalscorer is Derek Hales, who scored 168 times in all competitions in 368 matches, during two spells, for the club *Counting only league goals, Stuart Leary is the club's record scorer with 153 goals between 1951 and 1962Clayton 2001, p.112 *The record number of goals scored in one season is 33, scored by Ralph Allen in the 1934–35 seasonClayton 2001, p.58 *Charlton's record home attendance is 75,031 which was set on 12 February 1938 for an FA Cup match against *The record all-seated attendance is 27,111, The Valley's current capacity. This record was first set in September 2005 in a Premier League match against and has since been equalled several times Player records References ;General * ;Specific External links *CAFC.co.uk Official club website *Charlton Athletic UEFA.com *Charlton Athletic information and statistics Soccerbase Category:Association football clubs established in 1905 Category:Charlton Athletic F.C. 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